Davis Sarah K, Nowland Rebecca, Qualter Pamela
Department of Psychology, Institute of Health and Society, University of Worcester, Worcester, United Kingdom.
Child Health and Well-Being Research Group, School of Nursing, University of Central Lancashire, Preston, United Kingdom.
Front Psychol. 2019 Jul 17;10:1672. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01672. eCollection 2019.
Identifying factors that predict the maintenance of depression and loneliness in children is important for intervention design. Whilst emotional intelligence (EI) has been identified as a predictor of mental health, research examining how trait and ability EI contribute to long-term patterns of symptomatology in children is markedly absent. We examined the impact of both TEI and AEI on the maintenance of loneliness and depressive symptoms over 1 year in children aged 9-11 years. Two hundred and thirteen children (54% male) completed the TEIQue-CF and the MSCEIT-YV at the first time point of the study, and the Child Depression Inventory and the Loneliness and Aloneness Scale for Children and Adolescents at Time 1 and, again, 1 year later. Findings indicate that emotional skills (AEI) are important for predicting the maintenance of depressive symptoms and loneliness in children over 1 year; emotional self-competency (TEI) is less influential, only contributing to long-term loneliness in girls. Moreover, whilst deficiencies in the ability to perceive and understand emotions were predictive of prolonged symptomatology, so, too, were in using emotion to facilitate thinking and emotion management. Those findings carry important implications for EI theory and future research. They also indicate that EI interventions tailored to groups of "at risk" school children may be useful for reducing specific profiles of internalizing symptoms. Programs targeting AEI skills may be universally helpful for reducing the likelihood that depressive symptoms and loneliness will be maintained over time in middle childhood; girls at risk for prolonged loneliness would additionally benefit from opportunities to bolster TEI.
识别能够预测儿童抑郁和孤独感持续存在的因素对于干预方案的设计至关重要。虽然情商（EI）已被确定为心理健康的一个预测指标，但明显缺乏研究来探讨特质情商和能力情商如何影响儿童长期的症状模式。我们研究了特质情商（TEI）和能力情商（AEI）对9至11岁儿童孤独感和抑郁症状持续1年的影响。213名儿童（54%为男性）在研究的第一个时间点完成了特质情商问卷儿童版（TEIQue-CF）和梅耶-萨洛维-卡鲁索情商测验青少年版（MSCEIT-YV），并在时间1以及1年后再次完成了儿童抑郁量表和儿童青少年孤独感量表。研究结果表明，情绪技能（AEI）对于预测儿童1年以上的抑郁症状和孤独感持续存在很重要；情绪自我能力（TEI）的影响较小，仅对女孩的长期孤独感有影响。此外，虽然感知和理解情绪能力的缺陷可预测症状的长期存在，但利用情绪促进思考和情绪管理的能力缺陷也有同样的作用。这些发现对情商理论和未来研究具有重要意义。它们还表明，针对“高危”学龄儿童群体量身定制的情商干预措施可能有助于减少内化症状的特定表现。针对AEI技能的项目可能普遍有助于降低童年中期抑郁症状和孤独感长期存在的可能性；有长期孤独风险的女孩将额外受益于增强TEI的机会。
